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’Tis the Symphony: A Guide to the California Symphony Holiday Concerts

An animated holiday classic, a Grammy-winning choir, mulled wine & cocoa to sip at your seat… Get the scoop on what to expect when you come to one of the California Symphony’s holiday concerts.


There’s nothing quite like the buzzing atmosphere of the California Symphony’s holiday concerts, with the aroma of mulled wine in the hall, free activities in the lobby, and a program of music that’s geared to getting everyone into the holiday spirit.

’TIS THE SYMPHONY takes place Saturday, Dec. 22 at 4PM and 8PM at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, and whether you’re a regular or a first timer, we want you to feel welcome at the California Symphony, right here in Walnut Creek. Here’s a quick run down on what to expect for the holiday concerts.

Before the Show

Free, family-friendly fun starts in the lobby an hour before each performance.

Hot Cocoa and Mulled Wine in the Lobby

In addition to the usual selection of wines and sodas for sale in the lobby, hot cocoa with all your favorite toppings will be available at the Cocoa Bar. Meanwhile for those wanting to put a little more spirit into their season, mulled wine will also be available. (And if you’d like to get a head start on that festive feeling, check out California Symphony violist Catherine Matovich’s mulled wine recipe here.)

Pro tip: Save time at intermission by ordering your drinks in advance. Just flag down one of the gold vest-wearing, iPad-wielding members of the catering staff in the 2nd and 3rd floor lobbies before the performance to place your order.

Instrument Petting Zoo

The always-popular Instrument Petting Zoo is a place where you can touch, hold, and even try playing the different instruments in the orchestra. Try your hand at bowing a violin or a cello, or pucker up and try the trumpet or trombone. Find the petting zoo in the 3rd floor lobby.

Pro Tip: It’s not just for the kids.

Try a trombone… a violin, a cello, a flute, a clarinet and more at the Instrument Petting Zoo in the 3rd floor lobby.

Pick Up a Baton!

Step up to the conductor’s podium in the 2nd floor lobby, take up the baton and pretend you’re our guest conductor for the evening! Post your podium pictures to Facebook or Instagram and tag #CaliforniaSymphony for a chance to win tickets to our January performance, A TANGO WITH MOZART.

“The Snowman” Crafting & Coloring

Feeling crafty? Then come to the activity tables on the 2nd floor lobby for coloring, dot-to-dot, and snowman mask-making. Get creative at the table or pick up your free activity “Make & Take” packet to go.

The Performance

The Grammy-winning Pacific Boychoir Academy joins the full orchestra to perform holiday favorites as well as singing to the Oscar-nominated holiday classic, The Snowman, which is played on the big screen as the orchestra and choir perform music from the soundtrack live. To learn more about the Oakland-based Pacific Boychoir Academy—the only full-time boys’ chorus school on the west coast of North America—read profiles of Head Boy Cadence Strange and chorister Tavian Roberts on our blog. You can also go behind the scenes with video production technician Kim Rooker and read about how the orchestra stays in time with the movie.

Full details of the music will be in the free program book you’ll be handed as you enter the auditorium. The duration of each piece is also listed in the program, and you’ll find the words for the audience sing-along in the book too — so you can join in the singing with gusto!

The Program

California Symphony—Donato Cabrera, music director

Pacific Boychoir Academy—Andrew Brown, music director

Anderson—A Christmas Festival (6 minutes)

Regney/Shayne Baker—Do You Hear What I Hear? (3 minutes)

Children’s Christmas Medley (9 minutes)

  • I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
  • I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ for Christmas
  • All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth

Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)—Selections from The Nutcracker (24 minutes). Miniature Overture, Marche, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, Russian Dance, Arabian Dance, Chinese Dance, Dance of the Reed Flutes, Waltz of the Flowers

— I N T E R M I S S I O N (20 minutes) —

Blake (b. 1938)—The Snowman (26 minutes) with the Pacific Boychior Academy

Audience sing-along

  • Deck the Hall (2 minutes)
  • Silent Night (3 minutes)
  • Jingle Bells (2 minutes)

Anderson—Sleigh Ride (2 minutes)

Pro-tip: You can listen to Music Director Donato Cabrera’s holiday program playlist on Spotify.

Questions?

Our online Guide for Newcomers has answers to all the FAQs we could think of about attending the Symphony for the first time, including what to wear (A: whatever you like), are phones allowed in the auditorium (A: yes, but in silent mode), and whether you can take your drink into the auditorium (A: absolutely!)

Whether you’re coming back for your 32nd year or joining us for the first time, we look forward to seeing you, and to sharing a holiday tradition with you. Thanks for coming to see the California Symphony—your resident professional orchestra that’s based right here in Walnut Creek!

’Tis the Symphony takes place Saturday, December 22 at 4:00PM and 8:00PM at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, with activities in the lobby starting an hour earlier, at 3:00PM and 7:00PM.

Tickets start at $42 for adults and $20 for students and are available at www.californiasymphony.org or by calling the Lesher Center at 925.943.7469.

11 Weird & Wonderful Versions of the Nutcracker

From Sesame Street to the Simpsons and rubber chickens, Tchaikovsky’s classic has been given some interesting treatments through the years. Here’s our pick of 11 of the best (and the worst.)

Spoiler alert: Yes, there are rubber chickens.

1. The Simpsons — Cause Christmas Eve is Here

“Why should I care it’s all humbug.” — Montgomery Burns

2. Sesame Street

Elmo gets down with Jamie Foxx for The Nutcracker Mash.

3. Walt Disney’s Fantasia

The classic 1940 Walt Disney film featured dancing animated fairies, fish, flowers, mushrooms and leaves. No actual nutcracker is ever seen in this version.

4. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Mackenzie Foy, Morgan Freeman, Keira Knightley and Helen Mirren star in Disney’s latest holiday film.

5. Pentatonix — Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Part of their 2014 holiday album, the a cappella quintet gave their signature treatment to the Nutcracker classic.

6. Barbie in the Nutcracker

Barbie plays the role of Clara. What else can we say?

7. Line Rider — Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies

There’s something so satisfying about these Line Rider doodles, set to music. Which sledder will win — orange, blue, or green scarf?

8. Care Bears: The Nutcracker

Surprisingly, Rotten Tomatoes gives the Care Bears Nutcracker an audience score of 81%.

9. Royal Ballet — Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

As your reward for getting this far, here is Lauren Cuthbertson performing the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

10. Tetris

Tchaikovsky, distilled to 8-bit electronic noises. If you fall behind, the game nicely speeds up the music to throw you into panic.

11. TwoSet Violins

Australian YouTubers Brett Yang and Eddy Chen have given the rubber chicken treatment to Toto’s Africa and Mahler’s Fifth, and now Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker.

“The Nutcracker” is featured in the ‘Tis the Symphony holiday concerts, Saturday, December 22 at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek.

Tickets start at $42 / $20 for kids and students under 25 with valid student I.D. at californiasymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Box Office at 925.943.SHOW.

Cadence Strange: Student in the Spotlight

Cadence Strange, 12, gets up at 5:30 a.m. to make the two-hour commute from Pittsburg by bus and BART to Oakland, where he attends the Pacific Boychoir Academy. In addition to taking regular classes, Cadence spends three hours a day studying music theory, learning to sight-read, and rehearsing choral works in Latin and German.


California Symphony Orchestra (CSO): What’s the best thing about being a student at the PBA?

Cadence Strange: There is so many wonderful things about being here at PBA! We get individual attention from teachers, I get to sing classical music, and I have made tons of friends here — the campus is so small you can’t miss anyone!

CSO: What’s the most fun or interesting performance you’ve ever sung at and why?

CS: The most interesting performance has to be Boris Gudonov with the San Francisco Symphony. We got to go on stage and act and sing; it was a semi-staged opera. Also, I got to one more language to add to my collection: Russian! We got to sing with a professional tenor; he and I stood next to each other and practice together — it was AMAZING.

CSO: Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?

CS: I’ve always been a fan of being in business, that might be something I’d like to explore. I’ve also thought about becoming an opera singer or maybe a NASCAR driver.

Read more about Cadence in this interview with the East Bay Times “Pittsburg Boy’s Voice is Opening Doors in the Music World”

The Pacific Boychoir Academy joins the California Symphony for the ’Tis the Symphony holiday concerts, Saturday, December 22, at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, where they will sing festive selections with the full orchestra and perform to the soundtrack of The Snowman as it plays on the big screen.

Tickets start at $42 / $20 for kids and students under 25 with valid student I.D. at californiasymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Box Office at 925.943.SHOW.

A Day in the Life: Chorister Tavian Roberts

Tavian Roberts, 12, is a student at the Pacific Boychoir Academy in Oakland, the only full-time boys’ chorus school on the west coast of North America. The choir school integrates a full academic curriculum with daily musical instruction for boys in grades 4–8. Tavian sings with the choir for the California Symphony’s ’Tis the Symphony holiday concerts, Saturday, Dec. 22, at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek.


California Symphony Orchestra: What’s a typical day like as a student at the Pacific Boychoir Academy?

I get to PBA on my bike in the morning and usually have a few minutes to talk to friends before the first bell. When the bell rings we dress the line, and then go to our first class. We have two academic classes before our first break where you get time to play tag or basketball and talk to friends. The school is pretty fluid because sometimes we have performances, but since everyone knows each other well, you flow naturally from one class to the next.

At lunchtime, if you forget your lunch the teachers will give you some snacks to tide you over. Everyone makes mistakes, and the teachers know that; they are very sympathetic.

After lunch its usually MTV — Musicianship, Theory, and Voice, or Be The Change. Theory class helps you expand your knowledge of music, to learn things you never knew before. Musicianship is a test of your inner ear, it helps you perfect things you already know. Be The Change teaches you how to be a part of a group; sometimes its hard to rely on others and this teaches you how to integrate with the group. PBA is very community-based, it’s one of the school’s strong points. After that period is music. Music is the most important time of our day, where we learn our repertoire. At the end of the day, we pack up our stuff whether its in the trough or our locker, and head home. Except for Fridays; I am part of the Cooking Club that meets after school on Fridays.

CSO: Do you play other musical instruments?

I’ve tried piano and guitar, but I chose my voice after I realized it’s the one instrument that I felt good working on. I like the way I sing!

CSO: What’s the best part of going to school at the Pacific Boychoir Academy?

The best thing about being a student at PBA is that it gives you the chance to be the best singer you can be. No matter where I go in life, these years will always be a big part of me. Singing is the the means to an end; the vehicle that lets you go on a journey to different countries and meet different people.

CSO: What’s the most memorable performance you’ve been a part of with the PBA?

The most interesting performance I’ve ever sung was on my very first tour in Oregon. We went to PicFest — a choral festival. There were so many concerts at that tour, it was so interesting to listen to their music and have them listen to ours. I feel proud about what we presented.

CSO: Any idea what you’d like to be when you grow up?

I would like to be a chef when I grow up. I’m not sure what kind of chef, or if I will have my own restaurant, but I have a passion for culinary things and I’d like to see how that goes.

The Pacific Boychoir Academy joins the California Symphony for the ’Tis the Symphony holiday concerts, Saturday, Dec. 22 at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, where they will sing festive selections with the full orchestra and c

Tickets start at $42 / $20 for kids and students under 25 with valid student I.D. at californiasymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Box Office at 925.943.SHOW.

A Violist’s Mulled Wine Recipe

Rich, satisfying, and smooth. That’s not just the sound that California Symphony’s Catherine Matovich makes when she plays her viola. Here, Catherine shares her recipe for mulled wine—the perfect, warming, spiced beverage of the season.


What You’ll Need…

  • 2 bottles of red wine, preferably Cabernet
  • 1 bottle Muscat Canelli or similar wine
  • 1 orange studded with 20 whole cloves
  • 1/2 an entire nutmeg
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1/2 cup Grand Mariner + 3 tablespoons
  • Orange slices

Instructions

In a large, stain-proof kettle or soup caldron, simmer all ingredients. Can also be made in crockpot, set on low for minimum of 2 hours.

Ladle into handle-less tea mugs, drizzle a Grand Mariner floater, and garnish with orange slices.

Can be made up to 4 days in advance, minus the clove-studded orange.

Serves 8 true drinkers or 16 people who rarely imbibe.

By Catherine Matovich, viola

See Catherine on stage at the ’Tis the Symphony holiday concerts, Saturday, Dec. 22 at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek—where you can also sip mulled wine, cocoa and other drinks at your seat.

Tickets start at $42 / $20 for kids and students under 25 with valid student I.D. at californiasymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Box Office at 925.943.SHOW.

Sync-ing the Snowman

Kim Rooker is the Bay Area’s go-to expert in productions featuring movies with the soundtrack played by a live orchestra for over a decade. We go behind the scenes with Kim to learn how the orchestral, live movie magic comes together—so the images you see on screen stay in time with the music.

Walking in the Air: The conductor’s version of the movie includes a running clock to help him stay on track with the video.

California Symphony Orchestra: How long have you been doing live orchestra video production?

Kim Rooker: Since 2006, when we installed a film projection system at Davies Hall for a San Francisco Symphony performance of Charlie Chaplin’s score, set to the movie City Lights. Until that point, there was no way for the conductor to sync the music to the film other than visual reference to the movie.

Before then, I was doing audio and video production for big corporate events for companies like Apple and Pepsi. Then an associate brought me in to supervise a projection install at San Francisco Symphony’s Davies Hall for Bugs Bunny on Broadway, a clip show of Looney Tunes cartoons which featured classical music including Puccini’s Barber of Seville and Wagner (Elmer Fudd’s Magic Helmet). The Symphony staff asked me if I could help them with opera supertitles and other projects requiring video support, and one thing led to another. The early film-with-orchestra projects were older films like The Wizard of Oz, Singing in the Rain, Casablanca, and many Hitchcock films.

CSO: How do you make sure the orchestra and the video stay in sync?

KR: For The Snowman, I use a video recorder/playback device called a KiPro. The KiPro sends video to the screen and also the same video with time-code to the conductor. The conductor’s score has notes as to how the time-code relates to the movie. The audience sees the same program material, but not the time-code reference.

The Snowman system is a little different from most of the movie-for-orchestra systems. Often I see a single laptop computer sending different video files to the screen and conductor simultaneously. The conductor’s video will have cueing information that is authored with a program called Streamers. This more complex system helps when running a movie that can often be over two and half hours.

CSO: There is no dialog in the Snowman. Does this make it easier or harder for Donato and the orchestra to stay on track?

KR: The Snowman does have a few difficult tempo changes, but a film’s dialog usually is not used for reference. Often there is no music during scenes with dialog and the music tends to be used for action sequences or scene transitions.

CSO: What is the trickiest part of your work?

KR: Because for the actual performance I just start the video playback, the real work is setting up the system and the rehearsal. I am also responsible for the projection and make sure there is a quality image on the screen.

CSO: Do you actually get to enjoy the movie?

KR: I get to see the rehearsals and the final rehearsal is great because I can sit in the best seat in the house.

CSO: Do you have a favorite movie you’ve worked on? And is there any movie that you’re just completely over because you’ve spent so much time on it?

KR: Many of the movies with orchestra have music composed by John Williams: Raiders of the Lost Arc, Jurassic Park and Star Wars are all very enjoyable. Amadeus was wonderful and a hard ticket to get. Many of the Pixar movies are popular and the “clip show” (segments of many films) is great fun.

The Harry Potter series of eight movies has John Williams’ music on the first four. With rehearsals and several show days, seeing each movie many times makes for a lot of the Harry Potter story!

Kim Rooker will be behind the scenes for The Snowman, which will play on the big screen while the orchestra and Pacific Boy Choir Academy perform the score at the ‘Tis the Symphony holiday concerts, Saturday, Dec. 22 at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek.

Tickets start at $42 / $20 for kids and students under 25 with valid student I.D. at californiasymphony.org or call the Lesher Center Box Office at 925.943.SHOW.

Observing the WWI Armistice Centennial

Music Director Donato Cabrera writes from Linz, Austria, on a day commemorating the end of World War One.

The announcing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, was the occasion for large celebrations in the allied nations.

Today is the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day — Veterans Day in the U.S.— commemorating the end of WWI, which ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11 month of the year. It was a devastating war and the world of classical music suffered greatly from this incredibly barbaric conflict.

It was not too long ago that every schoolchild in the U.S. recited John McCrae’s, In Flanders Fields, for Veteran’s Day:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

WWI Composers

George Butterworth was a promising English composer who was killed at the Battle of the Somme at the age of 31. His body was never found. His song-cycle, A Shropshire Lad, is probably his most famous composition:

Rudi Stephan was a promising German composer whose small body of work is also excellent and quite varied in genre. He died at the age of 28 in Tarnopol at the Galician Front. Here is a very compelling piece he wrote in 1910 called, Music for Orchestra:

There were many composers who survived WWI but who were deeply affected by it. Each movement of the incredible six-movement piano piece, Le Tombeau de Couperin, by Maurice Ravel is a remembrance of a friend who lost their life in WWI:

And in one of the greatest examples of creating opportunity out of a seemingly hopeless situation, the pianist Paul Wittgenstein — brother of famed philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein — lost his right arm in WWI. After the war, he spent the rest of his life commissioning the world’s greatest composers to write pieces for piano for the left hand. Benjamin Britten, Paul Hindemith, Erich Korngold, Sergei Prokofiev, Franz Schmidt, and Richard Strauss, among others, all obliged but it is Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand that is the most famous:

The two pillars of English composition, Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams, both wrote works in memorium of the Great War. Vaughan Williams’s Symphony №3 is very touching and Elgar’s Cello Concerto has become one of the staples of the genre:

I’ve created a Spotify playlist as well:

https://bit.ly/DCWWI

ABOUT DONATO CABRERA

Donato Cabrera is the Music Director of the California Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and served as the Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and the Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra from 2009-2016.

Since Cabrera’s appointment as Music Director of the California Symphony in 2013, the organization has reached new artistic heights by implementing innovative programming that emphasizes welcoming newcomers and loyalists alike, building on its reputation for championing music by living composers, and committing to programming music by women and people of color. With a recently extended contract through the 2022–23 season, Cabreracontinues to advise and oversee the Symphony’s music education programs and community engagement activities. Cabrera has also greatly changed the Las Vegas Philharmonic’s concertexperience by expanding the scope and breadth of its orchestral concerts. Cabrera has also reenergized the Youth Concert Series by creating an engaging and interactive curriculum-based concert experience.

In recent seasons, Cabrera has made impressive debuts with the National Symphony’s KC Jukebox at the Kennedy Center, Louisville Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, New West Symphony, Kalamazoo Symphony, and the Reno Philharmonic. In 2016, he led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in performances with Grammy Award-winning singer Lila Downs. Cabrera made his Carnegie Hall debut leading the world premiere of Mark Grey’s Ătash Sorushan with soprano, Jessica Rivera.

Awards and fellowships include a Herbert von Karajan Conducting Fellowship at the SalzburgFestival and conducting the Nashville Symphony in the League of American Orchestra’sprestigious Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview. Donato Cabrera was recognized by the Consulate-General of Mexico in San Francisco as a Luminary of the Friends of Mexico Honorary Committee, for his contributions to promoting and developing the presence of the Mexican community in the Bay Area.

A Weekend with Katherine and Robyn

What do thimbles have to do with Katherine Balch’s next composition for the California Symphony? Read on for an update on the concerto she is writing for violinist Robyn Bollinger that is set to premiere at the 2018–19 season closer.

Left: Robyn Bollinger. Right: Katherine Balch with Robyn and thimble.

By California Symphony Young American Composer-in-Residence Katherine Balch. Balch will visit Walnut Creek in January for a reading workshop of her new piece-in-development.

Hi! Katherine here, California Symphony’s composer-in-residence. Happy fall! I spent the last few days of October in Boston, where my friend and collaborator Robyn Bollinger lives. Robyn will premiere my violin concerto, Artifacts, this May with the California Symphony.

Cheers! Kickoff to a weekend of playing and composing

We spent the weekend reading through and rehearsing some music, finalizing the workshop score for my upcoming read-through with the CS in January, and, most importantly, catching up on some much-needed girl time. I also presented my music to the composition students at Brandeis and Boston University.

Workshopping Day 1: In the third movement, I had written a very high, percussive pizzicati [when string players pluck the strings] figure in the violin sections. This was too hard, in fact, physically painful for Robyn’s fingers, because the strings of the violin become increasingly taut further up the fingerboard. So, we set out to find a similar sound that did not cause so much stress. After experimenting with several plectrum materials, we discovered that one can use a thimble to tap the string very high on the finger board. The resultant sound is exactly the delicate, high, percussive plucking sound I was looking for. So, I ordered 100 thimbles online. This concerto comes with accessories!

Homemade dumplings! Robyn and I have enjoyed cooking together since our undergraduate days as students at New England Conservatory.

Workshopping Day 2: Robyn played through a draft of one of the cadenzas in the concerto [when the soloist plays without any orchestral accompaniment], and we found solutions for some moments that were awkwardly written for the instrument. This concerto will be in four or five continuous movements which all feature the violin very heavily, but there will be three short cadenzas, spread out evenly throughout the 20-minute piece, in which Robyn plays without any orchestral accompaniment, showing different sides of her expressive personality. A weekend full of playing and writing!

Workshopping Day 2

Katherine Balch’s Violin Concerto will premiere May 5, 2019 at the California Symphony season finale. Tickets and information at www.californiasymphony.org/epicbruckner

Checking in with Composer-in-Residence Katherine Balch

Now entering the second year of her three year residency with the California Symphony, we connected with Katherine Balch to see what she’s been up to since we saw her at the May concert, and to find out how the concerto she’s writing for violinist Robyn Bollinger is progressing.

Robyn Bollinger and Katherine Balch enjoying the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the lawn at Tanglewood Music Center, where Katherine was a fellow this summer.

California Symphony Orchestra: What have you been up to since the premiere of your first piece with the California Symphony in May?

Katherine Balch: After an amazing week with the California Symphony, I had a fun time celebrating with the folks at Broadcast Music Inc., at the 66th Annual BMI Student Composer Awards ceremony in NYC, where I received an award for my orchestra piece, Leaf Fabric, written for the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (with conductor Ilan Volkov). Then, I dove right into composing a new piece for the Oregon Symphony Orchestra, called Chamber Music, which was premiered just recently in Portland, OR under Jun Markl. There’s a nice write-up about the piece and my time composing it here.

I then spent 8 weeks as a fellow at Tanglewood Music Center, in the beautiful Massachusetts Berkshires, where I worked on site-specific projects there as well as a big new piece for NYC-based trio, Bearthoven. We recently were honored to receive a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant for this project!

Watch out Donato! While a composing fellow at Tanglewood, Katherine had to write a short piece that she later had to conduct. (Balch claims she was “terrible”!)

Now, I’m back in school at Columbia University, where I’m currently in the 3rd year of my doctorate. I spent some time revisiting like a broken clock, and with the California Symphony recording in hand and some reflecting in mind, made some substantial revisions to the piece.

CSO: You’re working on your next commission for us — a violin concerto, which will premiere at the season finale and which you’re writing for your friend Robyn Bollinger. How is that going?

KB: I’m so excited to be working on this piece for my dear friend. The piece is called Artifacts, and each movement takes as a departure point a fragment or gesture from pieces in the solo violin repertoire that I love. Some of those pieces remind me of Robyn and her playing, and were chosen with her in mind, like Paganini’s 6th caprice for solo violin. I heard this piece for the first time when Robyn played all 24 of the Paganini Caprices in a single concert.

I currently have sketches of each movement, and am just starting to orchestrate some moments from each movement to workshop with the orchestra in January.

Composition sketches in Katherine’s studio at Tanglewood

CSO: You’re coming back to workshop the piece with Donato and the orchestra in January. Having done that once already last year, are approaching things any differently this time, and if so, how?

KB: I plan to use my time very differently. Last year, I came into the workshop with a basically finished draft of the piece, and the orchestra read it. This recording helped me tighten up loose ends and rework the ending of the piece, but I think because the piece was so close to done, I wasn’t as open about making changes as I could have been.

This time, I am going to bring small excerpts from each movement that each address a potential orchestral problem or question I have. In this way, it’ll be more explicitly experimental than the first workshop. I think this will be more educational for me and will also keep me open to making more drastic changes to the piece after the workshop period.

CSO: Outside of the California Symphony premiere, what else are you currently working on?

KB: Once I finish the workshop materials for California Symphony, I’ll be writing a piece for ‘cello and piano for my Young Concert Artists-roster colleague, the brilliant cellist Zlatomir Fung.

I’ll also be starting a string quartet for Juilliard’s quartet-in-residence, the Argus Quartet, which premieres the day after Robyn’s violin concerto, on May 6 in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.

Later in the season, I’ll be writing a double bass septet (yes, seven double basses) for Tanglewood Music Center, which will be performed in the summer.

Composition in progress: Katherine at work on the violin concerto that will have its world premiere at our 2018–19 season closer on May 5, 2019. Her cat Zarathustra likes to “help.”

Katherine Balch’s Violin Concerto will premiere May 5, 2019 at the California Symphony season finale. Tickets and information at www.californiasymphony.org/epicbruckner